


ensnared unaware

by RonnieMinor



Series: Make Your Heart A Home [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, F/F, Jealousy, Miscommunication, Oblivious, Pre-Relationship, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-04
Updated: 2012-10-04
Packaged: 2017-11-15 15:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/528811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RonnieMinor/pseuds/RonnieMinor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erica likes Lydia. Lydia likes Erica. It <em>should</em> be simple. The problem is, neither of them have worked it out yet.</p>
<p>They'll figure it out eventually. Maybe.</p>
<p>A companion piece to 'Not afraid to fall, not afraid to fight'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	ensnared unaware

**Author's Note:**

> This is the expansion of the briefly mentioned Erica/Lydia get together from [Chp 5](http://archiveofourown.org/works/486427/chapters/934611) of 'Not afraid to fall, not afraid to fight', although it's actually a slightly wider perspective than just the "bizarre little fight/argument/make-out thing that jump-started the relationship".
> 
> I hope you like it :)

It’s ironic really, that it takes Erica being turned into a werewolf for her to realise that maybe she doesn’t just like boys – maybe she likes girls too. It’s even more ironic that it’s _Lydia Martin_ of all people who happens to make her breath catch in her throat the first time they meet properly. Erica has _just_ officially been introduced to the pack as she watches Lydia make some cutting remark about not wanting to sound hairy and then proceed to totally shut down Jackson Whittemore, all within the space of about two minutes. It makes Erica’s heart stutter a little in her chest, her palms getting even sweatier than they already are. 

Later, when they’re all sprawled on the couches in the ‘den’ (apparently the wolf thing is actually taken kind of seriously), she glances over at Lydia, who just so happens to be licking her lips. Erica feels a sharp and completely unexpected tug of desire low in her belly. Her mouth waters a little as she suddenly wonders what Lydia’s lips taste like. 

‘You hungry?’ Scott says from where he’s sitting on the other side of Stiles. Erica stares at him for a moment, confused. Then she realises that he’s smelled the hunger on her and _thankfully_ , he’s misinterpreted it as the desire for food. She nods frantically. 

‘Yeah, starving’, she tells him. As if on cue, her stomach rumbles. Everyone laughs at that and she smiles, relieved. But that doesn’t stop her from glancing over at Lydia again. She jerks her gaze away when Lydia looks back. She doesn’t see how Lydia’s expression flickers briefly from confused to something that could almost be described as intrigued. 

* * *

Lydia doesn’t quite know what to make of the newest addition to the pack. For starters, it’s not like she even wanted Erica here in the first place, so there’s that. Setting aside any lingering resentment on that score though, the new girl is still not straightforward. She’s shy for the most part, initially hesitant about joining the group at lunch and participating in conversation – it takes a few days before she’s even really speaking at all. But she’s also clearly clever, because she’s pretty popular with most of the teachers, and even Mr Harris doesn’t seem to hate her quite much as he normally hates students. She seems sweet too, behind the shyness. 

‘What do you know about her?’ Lydia asks Allison the next week, sitting on the floor of Allison’s bedroom with textbooks spread around her. ‘I mean, other than the epilepsy and the fact that her dad is the insurance guy.’ 

Allison shrugs, looking up from her work. ‘She’s in my English class and she’s pretty good. Ms McCarthy _loves_ her – apparently Erica took part in one of those composition competitions last year and kicked ass against the girl from St Claire’s. Other than that… not much more than you probably. I like her though. She seems nice.’ 

Lydia nods, nibbling at her lower lip absently. ‘Well, Ms McCarthy loves a lot of people. But I agree about her seeming nice. She definitely needs a new wardrobe though. I know she probably had to dress that awfully before, just for the ease of it, but now… her clothes depress me.’ 

Allison laughs at that. ‘You are so _you_ ’, she says with a smile. And although the comment makes no sense, Lydia decides to take it as a compliment. 

‘Thanks. I’m serious about her clothes though.’ 

‘So take her shopping’, Allison says with a shrug. ‘We’ll organise something and go into town after school sometime this week.’ 

Lydia nods slowly. ‘Yeah, I guess we could do that. Make a girly afternoon of it. Maybe get a pizza afterwards or something.’ Then she pauses, biting down on her lip in indecision. Finally, she asks, ‘Do we know… do we know what she’s into?’ 

Allison looks up from her work again, raising an eyebrow. ‘What do you mean?’ Her gaze is intense and Lydia shrugs, trying her level best to look casual. 

‘I mean, do we know what she likes? Like, guys or girls?’ 

Allison gives a half-shrug, eyes dropping back to her notes. ‘No, we don’t. Does it matter?’ 

Lydia shakes her head slowly. ‘No… I mean – no. No it doesn’t. I guess she’s straight though – she seems really into Derek, especially after he spent the full moon with her this weekend.’ 

Allison laughs. ‘I don’t think that means much Lydia. I mean, yeah, I think maybe she has a bit of a crush on Derek, but I think it’s more like hero worship than anything else. After all, Derek is a really hot guy who effectively ‘saved’ her from her epilepsy and being a total social outcast. She’s bound to have a bit of a thing for him. That doesn’t necessarily mean she’s straight.’ She sets down her pen, shooting Lydia a look. ‘Lyds, is there something you want to talk about? I mean, I know you said you thought maybe you weren’t _just_ into guys a while back, but it’s not like the subject’s come up since then. Is that what this is about?’ 

Lydia’s mouth twists, as does the knot in her stomach. ‘Maybe’, she admits, feeling deeply uncomfortable as she says it. ‘I don’t know really.’ And although a part of her wants to say more, she doesn’t, because she’s still a little unsure about this whole thing and talking about it makes her feel nervous. 

Allison watches her for a moment or two, then slides off the bed and picks her way carefully through the work on the floor to sit down next to Lydia. She wraps an arm around the smaller girl and says, 

‘You know it doesn’t make a difference right? Like, it doesn’t matter at all. I wouldn’t even mind if you said you wanted to shave off all your hair and go and live in some lesbian commune for the rest of your life. Although I would probably try to stop you from doing the head-shaving, because your hair is _really nice_ and it would totally be a waste.’ She squeezes Lydia’s shoulder. ‘Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is it’s cool for you to like who you like, whether that’s boys or girls, or boys _and_ girls, or nobody at all. And everyone in the pack will be cool with it too.’ 

Lydia nods slowly. ‘Thanks’, she whispers, her eyes unexpectedly filling with tears. ‘Thank you.’ And then she lets Allison pull her into a hug, pressing a kiss into her hair. 

‘No problem’, the taller girl tells her. ‘That’s what best friends are for.’ Yet again, Lydia is incredibly grateful for the fact that Allison is in her life. She hugs her friend back, squeezing tight until Allison laughs and shoves her away. ‘You suck’, the brunette says, laughing. 

Lydia grins evilly. ‘From what Scott says, so do you’, she retorts. Allison gasps and shoves her again. 

‘I guess I wouldn’t expect any different from you now that you’ve switched teams’, she teases, her tone light. Lydia raises her eyebrows. 

‘Whatever happened to ‘being cool’ with what I like?’ she asks, her voice mock-hurt. Allison sticks out her tongue in reply, and from that point on, it’s war. And by the time Lydia has pinned Allison to the ground in order to tickle her into submission, all her worries about Erica and who she may or may not like have been wiped from her mind. 

* * *

Lydia ends up having to skip the shopping trip due to a sneak attack by an AP math project that means she has to spend an entire evening holed up in her room cursing equations and practicing with the little ninja stars that Stiles bought her as a joke present over the summer. She’s pretty good with them by the time the project is finished – at three o’clock in the morning she shuts down her laptop and wonders for a minute or two how her mother will react to all the new holes in Lydia’s bedroom walls. That’s also the point where she falls asleep at her desk, waking up to the blaring of her alarm only to find that she has the imprint of a keyboard on her cheek. 

It’s not the best way to start the day, which is probably why what happens at lunch throws her so much. When Erica turns up in a skirt that’s short enough to be a belt, longs legs stretching for miles and miles as she struts over to the pack lunch table, Lydia feels her stomach flip, her sudden, violent _want_ hitting her like a punch in the gut. If it weren’t for the fact that most of the school smells of arousal right now, she’d be found out in seconds. She watches as Erica slides into a seat next to Stiles and can hardly take her eyes off Erica’s perfectly red lips as they smile with a confidence Lydia hasn’t seen before. 

Watching Erica eat her apple is like some strange and unusual form of torture. Lydia can’t seem to tear her gaze away as she watches the way Erica’s mouth works, lips drawn into a pout. Her lipstick remains flawless throughout. It makes Lydia itch with the desire to see if she can’t mess it up, leaving red smears around Erica’s mouth to show everyone just who she belongs to. 

What can she say? Wolves are possessive. 

* * *

Erica isn’t exactly sure what she expected when she turned up to school with her new look. True, she’ll admit – to herself, in the privacy of her own head – that maybe it was a little much (the leopard print shoes spring to mind) but she just wanted to see what it felt like. And now she knows. It wasn’t at all what she expected. 

Firstly, nothing could have prepared her for the _wave_ of arousal that hits her like a smack in the face. The scent is pretty much ever-present at school – they are all horny teenagers after all – but this… it’s new. She realises, with a heady rush, that it’s all for her. And that’s what gives her the confidence to walk through the cafeteria like she owns it. _Like Lydia walks_ , a little voice whispers in her ear. 

She slides into a free seat next to Stiles at the pack table, momentarily buoyed up by the way everyone is looking at her: like they can’t believe what they’re seeing. It’s this that makes her act like a cocky asshole, instead of laughing it off like she kind of wants to as soon as she realises everyone is kind of horrified. It’s this that drives her to eat the apple like she’s trying to seduce someone. 

One look at Lydia’s face makes her feel like she’s been doused in ice water. Disbelief, shock, anger, all finding their place in Lydia’s expression. No trace of interest, just an intensity in her gaze that makes Erica feel like she’s being dissected under a microscope. It makes her feel uncomfortable and awkward. Perversely, it also sets an answering spark of anger off in her belly; a need to show Lydia that she has _no right_ to act that way. 

When she throws a flirtatious glance at Isaac, she can’t even pretend that she’s doing it for anything like the right reasons. Sure, he’s totally adorable and hot with it, but when she thinks about making out with him, her brain just… goes blank. Comes up with nothing. No spark of desire, no hot little fantasy. Nothing. It doesn’t stop her from flirting with him though, or inviting him round to her house and getting a little closer to him than she should. And she hates herself for doing it, but there’s a certain sick satisfaction in watching Lydia’s struggle to keep her temper in check, just as there’s a petty sense of success when she refuses to show Lydia submission. 

Watching Lydia as the days pass, Erica wonders – part amused, part scared – just how long it will take for Lydia to snap. 

The answer is not that long. 

* * *

Lydia tires of Erica’s games after very little time. It’s a matter of only a few weeks before she’s had _enough_ , pushed to her limit by her raging wolf and the need to protect Isaac. She’s tired of constantly feeling at war with herself, torn between the desire she feels to claim Erica as her own and the need to dominate the hell out of the other beta until she rolls over and submits. She’s also tired of not being able to talk to anyone about how she’s feeling, as she’s too scared to talk to Allison about this and too sensible to give Stiles any more pack-related problems to try and deal with. 

One day, without even meaning to, she reaches the end of her tether. She walks into the den to grab a textbook she’d left there earlier. Instead, she finds Isaac and Erica watching a film, with Erica pressed far too close to the other beta, her hand resting unsubtly on his thigh, promising everything that she’s obviously not going to deliver. Lydia feels her eyes go gold. 

‘Get out’, she snaps at Isaac. Gratifyingly, he does as he’s told without once looking to Erica for approval, his whole posture screaming of submission. 

Erica, on the other hand, looks angry. ‘What the hell is your problem?’ she snarls, rising from her seat, hands balled into fists by her sides. Lydia rolls her eyes. 

‘I’d have thought it would be fairly obvious’, she says drily. ‘Or do you need three guesses?’ And though it’s true that she expects things to degenerate quickly, she didn’t think it would be quite as quickly as it is. As soon as the words are out of her mouth, Erica is leaping at her, teeth bared and elongated into fangs, claws extended from her fingers. 

The fight is brief and violent, blood drawn more than once. It ends with Lydia throwing Erica into a wall, the heat of the moment making her forget about important things like not causing buildings structural damage. She pins the younger beta there, hands tight around Erica’s wrists; tight enough to hurt. 

She’s _this_ close to forcing submission out of Erica when something catches her attention. Pausing momentarily, Lydia sniffs the air, focussing on the new scent. It smells like… 

‘Arousal.’ She stares at Erica, confused. ‘You get turned on by being thrown into walls? Is this like some weird fetish of yours or something?’ 

Erica shoots her a glare that is pure disdain. ‘Sure’, she says, voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘That’s exactly what I’m into.’ Then she stops, ducking her head, a blush crawling up her cheeks. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ she asks. 

Lydia frowns. ‘Umm, no, it’s not’, she says. Erica raises an eyebrow, expressing an impressive amount of scorn just with a look. 

‘You know, for such a supposedly smart girl, you’re being pretty dense.’ 

The jibe gets right under Lydia’s skin, just like it’s supposed to. She snarls in Erica’s face, gums pulled back over her teeth, eyes glowing golden as she presses the taller girl harder into the wall. Erica makes a sound almost like a sob and Lydia can’t tell whether it’s pleasure or pain. 

‘Let me _go_ ’, Erica whines, her voice borderline petulant. Lydia scowls at her. 

‘Not until you tell me what the hell’s going on.’ 

Erica scowls right back. ‘I’ll tell you, but only if you let me go.’ She sucks in a breath and lifts her head, exposing her neck just the slightest bit in an unmistakable – but scant – move of submission. ‘I promise.’ 

Lydia bares her teeth just a little, emphasising what will happen if Erica’s lying to her. Then she lets the other girl go, backing off and taking a seat on the sofa. She tries not to think about the fact that she’s already missing having Erica at her mercy. 

Gingerly, the other beta takes a seat at the opposite end of the sofa. She sits with her back to the arm of the couch, knees drawn up to her chest and hands in her lap. She stares at her fingers as she mumbles, 

‘It was because of you.’ 

Lydia looks at her, confused for a moment or two. But then she thinks about it and… Oh. _Oh_. Realisations hits, bringing a flood of warmth with it. 

‘You like me!’ 

‘No kidding’, Erica mutters. Then she looks up, surprise in her eyes. ‘You mean you didn’t know?’ 

Lydia shakes her head slowly, ignoring the way her treacherous heart is trying to beat out of her chest. ‘No. Why? Did you think I did?’ 

Erica nods. ‘I thought… I thought that’s why we stopped hanging out.’ Lydia rolls her eyes and wonders if Scott’s incompetence as a werewolf is somehow catching. 

‘We stopped hanging out because you came into school dressed like a hooker, with an attitude to match. I can’t believe you honestly thought I’d be angry that you like me.’ 

‘Hey, I’d never have acted that way if you hadn’t looked at me like I was some spot of dirt on the floor!’ Erica snaps. ‘Why _were_ you so mad that day anyway? Is leopard print a fashion crime in your book or something?’ 

Lydia raises an eyebrow. ‘Well yes, actually. But I wasn’t looking at you like you were ‘a spot of dirt on the floor’.’ She stops, feeling a blush crawl up her own cheeks. ‘My wolf was, uh, feeling possessive. I didn’t like everyone looking at you like that.’ 

Erica’s mouth falls open, eyes wide like she can’t believe what she’s hearing. Apparently Scott’s incompetency really _is_ be catching. ‘You mean… you mean you like me too?’ 

That’s the point where Lydia decides words are kind of unnecessary when she could be _showing_ Erica what she means. So she crawls forward across the sofa and presses a kiss against the lips she’s been thinking about for weeks, claiming them as her own. And when Erica kisses her back, her wolf howls happily in her chest. 

* * *

Erica’s never actually made out with anyone. Sure, she’s kissed a couple of boys – or rather, a couple of boys have kissed her, at parties, when they were drunk – but this is totally new territory. It’s _great_ territory, but new nonetheless – and a little frightening, if Erica is honest, especially as she’d never anticipated doing this with a girl. Not until very recently at least. Luckily, Lydia seems to know _exactly_ what she’s doing, so Erica just kind of decides to go with and let Lydia lead. It turns out to be a pretty awesome plan. And yeah, it’s a little awkward when Stiles walks in on them making out on the sofa, but it’s totally worth it, because it’s _Lydia Martin_. Lydia Martin, who likes her back. 

Later on, lying curled up side by side on Lydia’s bed, legs tangled together and Lydia’s hand resting warmly on her waist, Erica smiles. 

‘I can’t believe I tried to make you jealous by flirting with Isaac’, she says. ‘You know, for two girls with above-average intelligence and all the perks of being a werewolf… we’re kind of idiots.’ Lydia rolls her eyes. 

‘For the record, the Isaac thing was deeply uncool and made me totally mad. I guess we kind of are idiots though’, she admits. ‘But if you ever tell anyone I said that, I’m going to deny all knowledge.’ 

Erica carries on smiling. ‘I won’t breathe a word’, she promises. And then she pulls Lydia in for a kiss, just because she can.


End file.
